By David S. Roesser, Cargill
A Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) perspective between mineral oil and Envirotemp FR3 fluid filled transformers.
Published in:
Electricity+Control, February 2016 (pages 24 – 27)
Enquiries: Louis Blom. Wilec. Email louisb@wilec.co.za
A study, conducted by Cargill, Incorporated, which compared a 100 MVA, 230 ‒ 69 kV transformer designed with mineral oil against the same transformer designed with high temperature insulation found the following:
• Moving incrementally from 110°C hottest spot to 120°C hottest spot resulted in near cost parity when comparing the Envirotemp FR3 fluid filled transformer to the traditional mineral oil-filled transformer, while providing increased overloading capability, extended asset life
• When comparing an FR3 fluid filled transformer optimised for 130°C hottest spot temperature compared to the mineral oil transformer designed for 110°C hottest spot temperature, the mineral oil transformer was more costly to produce than an FR3 fluid filled transformer, while still maintaining similar losses and life expectancy
• The mineral oil transformer weighed 8,5% more than the FR3 fluid transformer
• The mineral oil transformer contained 9% more liquid than the FR3 fluid transformer
• The mineral oil transformer contained 13,5% more copper by weight than the FR3 fluid transformer
Take note
• The choice of dielectric fluid is important in a transformer.
• The dielectric fluid provides both electrical insulation and cooling.
• New insulating fluids may permit transformers to operate at high loadings more safely.
Read the full article on Practical approach to designing more cost efficient transformers in PDF format.
